Abstract
In this study, Gd and Fe doped La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3 NPs were synthesized by co-precipitation and their nanocomposites (NCs) with reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) were fabricated by ultra-sonication approach. The as-fabricated La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3/r-GO was characterized by Raman scattering, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques along with electrical conductivity and photocatalytic studies. Analysis revealed that the NPs had distorted rhombohedral geometry and their crystallite size was in the range of 19–27 nm. The surface area of La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3/r-GO NCs increased from 67 to 153 m2/g by doping and adding r-GO. Two probe current-voltage (I-V) analysis shows the electrical conductivity of the material improved from 5.2 × 10−2 S/m to 4.8 × 105 S/m by doping and adding r-GO. The photocatalytic performance of LaNiO3, La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3 NPs and La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3/r-GO NCs was evaluated by degrading methyl green (MG) dye under solar light irradiation. Results revealed that the LaNiO3 and La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3 NPs degraded up to 38.1% and 62.3% MG dye under solar irradiation for 70 min. It was observed that La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3/r-GO NCs furnished 93.8% higher MG dye compared to LaNiO3. La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3/r-GO NCs had excellent degradation efficiency due to the combined effect of doping Gd and Fe and adding r-GO. This was due to the defect in the structure of La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3/r-GO, which inhibited the recombination of charge carrier species. NCs with excellent electrical conductivity and photocatalytic activity could have potential applications as a photocatalyst under solar light irradiation.
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•Gd and Co substituted LaNiO3 were fabricated by facile micro-emulsion approach.•La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3 nanocomposites with rGO was prepared.•The morphological, structural, optical and photocatalytic pproperties were studied.•Photocatalytic activity was improved significantly by doping and GO addition.•La1-xGdxNi1-yFeyO3/r-GO showed promising potential for harvesting solar light for catalytic applications.